Bo Ky

Find a Must-Have Dish at Chinatown’s Bo Ky | Eater NY

"At 80 Bayard Street, near the corner of Mott Street, I pass a faded white facade with Chinese and Vietnamese lettering that marks Bo Ky, currently owned by Hung Ngo, whose father founded the restaurant around 1990. It's a Teochew-owned Chinese spot whose menu reflects the Teochew diaspora—mixing Vietnamese, Cambodian, Malaysian and more purely Teochew dishes—and the menu includes deep-fried shrimp rolls with a shrimp mousse wrapped in tofu skin (wrinkly and wonderfully squishy) and a fish noodle soup with noodles made partly of fish. The standout is the Teochew duck: birds hang in the window with marinated chestnut-brown skin that looks different from the bronzed ducks elsewhere, a recipe sometimes associated with Singapore hawker stalls. Described on the menu as country-style duck ($18 for half), it reveals at first bite a pleasantly rubbery skin and flesh that is moist and full of lacustrine flavor; rather than the lacquered-crisp skin of Beijing-style roast, this bird is braised in a thick soy sauce with star anise and other spices to maximize flavor and a softer texture. The half comes sliced with sweet-pickled vegetables and a small saucer of vinegar laced with fish sauce, and there is so much duck in a half bird that you can share it with three or four friends — now I can't pass the corner of Mott and Bayard without craving it." - Robert Sietsema